Amongst all the talk of football and footballers losing touch with the common fan, supporters in Italy are fighting back.

There have been at least four recent incidents where fans have protested against potential signings they did not like. Juve supporters failed to stop Monday’s purchase of Christian Poulsen but did prevent a bid for Inter Milan’s Dejan Stankovic.

Christian Vieri has been abused on his return to Atalanta and Fiorentina fans halted a move for Lazio’s Luciano Zauri.

Read more here.

PHOTO: Christian Poulsen while on national duty with Denmark in 2007. REUTERS/Scanpix Denmark

Chelsea’s gain in recruiting Luiz Felipe Scolari as their new manager has spelt pain for Manchester United — at least in the short term.

Carlos Queiroz’s departure from United to take over from Scolari as Portugal coach means that Chelsea have inadvertently inflicted an early blow on their Old Trafford rivals ahead of the new season.

Besides acquiring a World Cup-winning coach in Scolari, they also set in motion a chain of events which has cost Sir Alex Ferguson his trusted right-hand man.

Queiroz played a vital role as Ferguson’s number two, overseeing much of the squad’s work on the training ground and playing an influential role in the team’s tactical development from a traditional 4-4-2 formation to a more flexible approach.

Ferguson once said to reporters that Queiroz had helped to “widen our horizons” and the fact the Scot welcomed him back with open arms in 2004, 12 months after his defection to Real Madrid, underlines how much the manager valued him.  

The 55-year-old’s contacts book also helped United acquire young Portuguese-speaking talents like Nani, Anderson and Manucho, and his departure will do little to help the club’s prospects of holding on to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Queiroz is known to be close to Ronaldo and helped to persuade him to stay in Manchester after the fall-out from England’s 2006 World Cup defeat by Portugal. Indeed, the winger has described Queiroz as a father figure.

It is hard not to conclude that finding a replacement for Queiroz — multilingual and tactically astute — will not be easy.    

That is the task facing Ferguson as he begins the search for the sixth assistant of his long reign — a decision he may well need to get right if United are to keep Scolari’s Chelsea in their slipstream in the season ahead.

PHOTO: Manchester United coach Ferguson and assistant Queiroz speak during a training session, April 8. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has caused controversy with his remarks about modern day players being treated like slaves.

 ”I think in football there is too much modern slavery, transferring players or buying players here and there, and putting them somewhere,” Blatter said. “And we are trying now to intervene in such cases.”

Critics say his comments are ridiculous given players are paid millions more than the average fan, who would give anything to turn out for his favourite club for free.

Asked specifically about Manchester United’s efforts to prevent their Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo leaving to join Real Madrid, Blatter told Sky News the English side should let him go.

“If the player wants to play somewhere else, then a solution should be found,” he said. “Because if he stays in a club where he does not feel comfortable to play then it’s no good for the player and for the club.”

Blatter’s point is that in normal life a worker can resign from his contract and move to another employer whenever he wants.

It all boils down to whether player deals are viewed as financial contracts or personal ones. Manchester United will at least be well compensated if Ronaldo moves, which would not happen if Joe Bloggs moved from normal job A to normal job B.

But being a soccer player is not a normal job, is it?

PHOTO: Portugal’s Ronaldo leaves after a treatment session on his injured right ankle at a physiotherapy centre in Lisbon. July 11 REUTERS/Hugo Correia

Luiz Felipe Scolari held his first news conference as Chelsea manager on Tuesday.

Regular vlogonthepitch pundit Pedro Redig attended the event and spoke to journalists from Brazil (Fernando Duarte, O Globo) and Portugal (Alexandre Albuquerque, RTP) where Scolari made a name for himself as an international manager.

Pedro also got some British reaction from Sky Sports News reporter Nick Collins.

Will Big Phil continue to wow the press pack or might he be exposed by a lack European club experience?

Let us know your views.

However Chelsea’s fortunes unfold on the field during the coming season, the presence of new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari at Stamford Bridge should guarantee no shortage of entertainment off it.

Scolari gave an impressive performance on Tuesday in his first news conference since taking the helm of the London club, speaking in excellent English and providing Chelsea’s fans with exactly the news they wanted to hear about Frank Lampard staying.

They also got a first taste of their new coach’s charisma. If Avram Grant cut a grey figure compared to his colourful, soundbite-friendly predecessor Jose Mourinho — aka ‘The Special One’ — nobody will be complaining about Scolari lacking personality.

Speaking with a twinkle in his eye, the Brazilian World Cup-winning coach said he was special only to his loved ones and a “so-so” coach.

For those who witnessed the wide range of facial expressions at his news conferences as Portugal manager, none of this would have come as a surprise. He may resemble the actor Gene Hackman but he is a showman in his own right, a great bear-like figure who needs little invitation to display his emotions.

When his players’ tempers were rising during the group-stage defeat by Switzerland at Euro 2008, he stood on the touchline like an angry schoolmaster, his index finger held to his mouth in a gesture telling them to stop their back chat to the referee.

Yet the big hug he gave injured Switzerland striker Alexander Frei on the same
evening showed his avuncular side too.

My favourite Scolari memory came from Portugal’s meeting with England at the
2006 World Cup.

He looked every inch the kindly uncle when, down at pitchside in Gelsenkirchen, he joked around with a group of English schoolchildren — posing for pictures, giving the thumbs-down to the Gerrard on the back of one boy’s England shirt, and even pulling the tail of tournament mascot Goleo the lion. This less than an hour before a World Cup game.

Chelsea players and fans alike should have little difficulty in warming to Scolari. It is easy to imagine opposition supporters getting their share of fun from having Big Phil around too.

PHOTO: Scolari gestures during a news conference at Cobham in southern England as he is unveiled as the new Chelsea manager. July 8. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Anyone who tuned into Wimbledon over the past fortnight would have seen how the world’s best tennis players have the right to challenge line calls they deem incorrect.

From the days when John McEnroe screaming ‘You cannot be serious’ was seen as the height of bad manners,  we have progressed to a TV-friendly present when Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and co have the right to question decisions — and have them reassessed on video.    

It certainly adds to the viewing experience and according to Tony Cascarino, the former Chelsea and Republic of Ireland striker-turned newspaper pundit, football would be wise to follow suit.    

Writing in The Times, Cascarino said: “Football should learn from Wimbledon’s use of technology. Managers should have ‘challenges’ when they can call for replays to review decisions. It would help to eradicate mistakes and reduce cheating.”    

The sound arguments for video technology — particularly to see whether the ball has crossed the goalline — do not need repeating here but, if it were introduced, the decision to seek video help should surely remain in the hands of the referee.    

Nevermind the flow of the game being interrupted, how about the damage to the referee’s authority? Would it really help football to give managers official licence to query their decisions mid-match?   

Jose Mourinho, who hopes to sign Frank Lampard this week, sees winning trophies as just part of his job as the new coach of Inter Milan.

The former Chelsea and Porto boss also aims to help stuttering Serie A rule the roost like it did in the 1980s and 90s by serving up entertaining soccer and burying the troubled recent past.

Some English fans might question whether Mourinho has the credentials to preach the virtues of champagne soccer, given that his Chelsea side were not adverse to the odd ugly win.

Nevertheless, the arrival of one of sport’s most charismatic and successful personalities has already enabled the Italian top flight to regain some of the ground lost to the Premier League and Spain’s La Liga.

If the Portuguese makes a fraction of the big signings the media expect of him and Inter’s rivals splash out to keep up, so much the better for Serie A. A footballing renaissance could be on the cards.

Mourinho is also keen to do his bit in fighting hooliganism in Italy, speaking of the need to make “the fans more responsible and change their relationship with the police”.

He didn’t give details of how he could contribute to beating a problem numerous crackdowns and anti-hooligan laws have failed to solve, but Mourinho likes a challenge. If he can meet this one, it really would be something special.

Paul Virgo, Rome

PHOTO: Jose Mourinho is officially unveiled as coach of Serie A champions Inter Milan. June 3. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

Anyone who has any lingering doubts whether Juergen Klinsmann is determined to be an agent of change at Bayern Munich should have a word with the city’s photojournalists. 

All 20 photographers accredited for Klinsmann’s first news conference on Wednesday stood up and walked out in a silent (and somewhat silly) protest because of a new rule limiting them to three minutes of pictures at the start.

Just as Klinsmann was a catalyst for change in his two years shaking up some of the antiquated structures in the German FA from 2004 to 2006, it seems abundantly clear the former Germany striker is not going to be satisfied with the status quo in Munich. 

They might have won the Bundesliga and German Cup last year, but that’s not enough for Bayern.  

In a refreshingly open 45 minutes, Klinsmann sketched out his ideas about Bayern’s direction — candidly saying the goals are a German domestic double and reaching the final of the Champions League — and kept referring to the centrepiece of his masterplan, a new Hochleistungszentrum (high performance centre).

He’ll be expecting his players to spend all day — from 9:30 to 5:30 — on site and use the few hours between morning and afternoon training sessions to work on their language skills, fitness abilities or learn about new things.  

“Matches are decided in the head,” he said at the news conference, which was broadcast live by two German TV networks. “It’s important to keep learning, to stay hungry to learn more.”  

Klinsmann, who spent the last decade living in California, has a number of critics in Germany sceptical of his American-style optimism. They are also unsure about imported training methods from a country they tend to view as a minor soccer nation.

But as well as working with the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns, Klinsmann spent time in South America in the last two years and has worked hard to learn Spanish — adding to his Italian, French and English skills.

“I did a lot of travelling. And obviously I spent a lot of effort to learn more about soccer. It’s my belief that everyone can learn something from someone else. You just have to open yourself up to it,” he said.  

He was certain his players were going to welcome the new challenges rather than feel any burdens, adding it will “set new energies free.” Klinsmann said one of his biggest challenges will be keeping all his talent-laden squad happy.

“We’ve got two players for every position and for some positions there are even three people at a very high level,” he said. “I’ve got my work cut out for me. But I’m really looking forward to it.”  

He said he had intentionally refrained from any TV or print interviews of any kind for the last six months but had been excited about the new season in the Bundesliga since the moment Bayern bosses called him just before Christmas.

“I’m extremely ambitious and sometimes as a player I was a bit too ambitious at times. But I want to move something here at Bayern. What I’ve missed most the last two years was the day-in and day-out work with the players. If everyone gets a little bit better the team will automatically be better. I can’t describe how happy I am to be back.”

PHOTO: Klinsmann smiles during a news conference in Munich. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

Can money buy lasting success in football? This week vlog on the pitch host Owen Wyatt hangs out with some models to find out.

West London club Queen’s Park Rangers have spent the last 12 seasons outside the Premier League, but with Formula One tycoons Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore now at the helm, the hoops will be looking to get back to the big time.

Do you think that Briatore and co will be able to replicate their success on the circuit and turn the club around?

Let us know your views.

As the dust settles on Euro 2008 and attention turns to transfer market, it will be interesting to see how many of the top performers from the tournament will be on the move in the coming weeks.

If Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United generated endless speculation at the start of the Euros, the finals ended with other names enjoying newly-acquired prominence. 

Andrei Arshavin’s form for Russia has already prompted a paper mountain of speculation about his future, with Barcelona the dream destination of the Zenit St Petersburg forward. Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa is also expected to be leaving Valencia - even if his four goals for champions Spain will have inflated the Mestalla club’s asking price considerably.  

Another name to consider from UEFA’s 23-man team of the tournament is Spartak Moscow striker Roman Pavyluchenko - scorer of three goals for Russia - who according to one British newspaper on Tuesday is now on the radar of Manchester United. 

England may not have been present in Austria and Switzerland but the Premier League boasted six players in the team of the tournament and more may be headed to Europe’s most lucrative league before the start of the season.

At almost 32, Spain’s fine holding midfielder Marcos Senna may be tempted away from Villarreal for a potential last big pay day, while it would have been negligent of scouts to ignore the players that took Turkey to the last four - Galatasaray wide man Arda Turan, in particular.    

In some cases, players already had their transfers tied up before stepping into the Euro shop window. The 16.6m pound deal Tottenham sealed for Dinamo Zagreb’s playmaker Luka Modric certainly made sense when seeing him perform so impressively for Croatia.  

Of course, a player’s ability to shine in the international spotlight is no guarantee he will turn it on week in, week out for his club side as Tottenham fans with memories of another eastern European recruit will know only too well.  

Romanian Ilie Dumitrescu arrived at the White Hart Lane club after scoring twice in a 3-2 win over Argentina at the 1994 World Cup but did not last a full season before being shipped out on loan to Sevilla.